CityJet deal with Aer Lingus cleared

CityJet Avro RJ85 EI-RJD has been operating on the London City-Dublin route, covering for maintenance on EI-RJH; she is seen landing at Dublin after operating EI 283 (David J Hennigan)

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has cleared CityJet‘s deal to operate scheduled passenger flights between London City Airport and Dublin on behalf of Aer Lingus. CityJet had previously operated the route itself, but decided to focus exclusively on operating for other airlines. In August, it announced that it would lease two of its Avro RJ85s to Aer Lingus and operate them on its behalf between Dublin and London City from 28 October. The CMA decided to investigate the deal out of concern that it would reduce competition, but allowed it to proceed, and it began as scheduled. On 21 December, the CMA announced that it had cleared the deal, as CityJet had intended to exit the route prior to its agreement with Aer Lingus. CityJet operates two RJ85s, EI-RJH (msn E2345) and EI-RJN (msn E2351), on the route; both have been painted with Aer Lingus titles and the Aer Lingus logo on the tail. However, other RJ85s are often substituted. EI-RJD (msn E2334) has been operating on the route since 15 December, for example, to cover for maintenance on EI-RJH. Indeed, almost all of CityJet’s active RJ85s have flown on the route since it started, sometimes for a single roundtrip, sometimes for a few days.